Friday, June 08, 2012

Safety

This semester, the maintenance people bolted my bookcases to the wall. It's needed to happen for a long time. One of the bookcases, particularly, was wobbly, and I tried not to think about what it would do in an earthquake. In the earthquake in 2010, the only bookcase in my classroom that actually fell was the blue one in the first photo. The others were facing in the other direction. So only those extremely old anthologies fell.

We know, of course, that we could have another earthquake. I don't think about it every day any more, but I do think about it. The brackets wouldn't stop books from falling on our heads, but they would stop the furniture itself from crashing over. There's only so much you can do. These powers are stronger than we are.

I must admit that I see bookcases very differently now. Before, they looked entirely friendly to me. Now, sadly, there's an element of deathtrap to them. Maybe that's one reason I have embraced my Kindle so thoroughly.

2 comments:

Interesting thoughts, Ruth. Not having ever gone through what you have, I can't imagine. As far as the children, the biggest thing I've ever had to handle that wasn't really physical but emotional, are the days of Columbine and 9-11. We all want so much to protect the children and sometimes we just have to show them we can survive but that awful things do happen. I seem to hear some emotion even with the bookcases. I'm sorry this brings back the memories. Thank you for sharing such feelings.

That's a state requirement in WA. But we don't use big braces like that, just L-brackets. Sometimes the guys drill through the back of the case and bolt it into the wall that way. One thing's for sure, it keeps me from moving furniture around!

About Me

I live with my family in Haiti (I used to call it Tecwil = The Country Where I Live in an attempt to preserve my anonymity and that of my adopted country - the earthquake changed that and everything else). I teach English to seventh and eighth graders at an international Christian school. The name of my blog comes from this song.